No. 13 Lakers Suffer First CCAC Defeat Of Season

WHITING, Ind. – A late rally ran out of time as No. 13 Roosevelt suffered its first Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference loss of the season Saturday afternoon in Whiting, Ind. with a 69-64 setback at the hands of Calumet St. Joseph.

The Lakers (17-3, 11-1 CCAC) forced a turnover eight seconds into the game then immediately turned that into a Shane Stevensen layup. However, that would be the only lead Roosevelt would hold in the game despite dominating the interior with a 32-20 edge in points in the paint. Maurice Commander did his best to keep the Lakers in the game with 21 of his career-best 31 points coming in the second half.

Calumet St. Joseph took its largest lead of the contest midway through the second half, but Commander responded with a layup on Roosevelt's next possession. Commander scored 10 straight points for the Lakers in the final minutes of the game to cut the deficit down to four with 90 seconds to play. Forte Prater added a layup with 38 ticks left to cut the deficit to three, but that was as close as the Lakers would come.

Prater finished 17 points on an efficient 8 of 11 shooting with 11 of his total coming in the second half as well. Malcolm Townsel added eight points and six boards for Roosevelt to go with three steals while Julio Montes II led the team with five assists.  

Roosevelt will try to get back on track Wednesday evening when it hosts No. 22 Olivet Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. in a battle of the top-two teams in the CCAC at the Goodman Center.